


Goodnight, Sweet Prince

by ninnie_eats_chips



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: 5.2 spoilers referenced, Au Ra Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Established Relationship, F/M, Female Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Fluff, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Patch 5.2: Echoes of a Fallen Star
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-02-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:34:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22822627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninnie_eats_chips/pseuds/ninnie_eats_chips
Summary: Lily just wants G’raha to take care of himself. Failing that, she’ll just have to take matters into her own hands.
Relationships: G'raha Tia | Crystal Exarch/Warrior of Light
Comments: 13
Kudos: 58





	Goodnight, Sweet Prince

**Author's Note:**

> *Allows myself to cheat and write another crummy oneshot with my WoL like I did when 5.1 came out.*
> 
> I couldn’t stop thinking about all the dialogue about getting G’raha to lie down/take a break. I had to do a cute. <3  
> Probably won’t line up with my series and will stay a Read By Itself kinda thing.
> 
> Also wow, this also kinda echoes (gasp) one of the very first WoL/Exarch fics I wrote! Imagine that!

“Raha?” The Auri called out, echoing into the Ocular, then waited. No answer. He was either engrossed in his work (most likely), somewhere else in the tower perhaps, or...

_ Knock-knock-knock. _

Lily’s knuckles tapped impatiently on the door to the Umbilicus, crossing her arms as her tail began to sway faster with nervousness. 

_ Well, the door was thick, and maybe her hands were just a little too gentle? _

She balled her hand into a fist and pounded at the door the second time.

**_“Ra-ha.”_ **

After a second, she was relieved to have heard a shuffle and a clank from the other side.

_ “Lily?”  _ The sound of his muffled voice through the door soothed her, and she was able to relax a little. But not completely. Even through the crystal and gold, there was an extra layer of something blanketing his voice. Something telling. 

Something  _ tired. _

“I know what you’re up to in there! It’s time to take a break!” Her eyebrows curled with worry. 

It was already half-past midnight, for Godssakes. She should have been in bed herself.

In fact, she was already dressed in a long nightgown when she made her way up to the drowsy guard at the Dossal Gate and unintentionally tested his alertness, making the man rub his eyes to make sure he wasn’t imagining seeing the Warrior of Darkness at the Exarch’s doors in her pajamas. But among a myriad of duties, keeping her lover from  _ overworking himself to death _ was one she took most seriously. She’d had a bad feeling when she readied for bed, that G’raha wouldn’t be doing the same despite all his promises to do so. And she was right to worry… What was he thinking, working on the vessel where neither Lyna nor Beq Lugg could keep a close eye on him, and so late into the night? 

Alisaie was right to call him a danger to himself—it was clear he couldn’t be trusted. And so, if G’raha wouldn’t go to bed on his own… she would just have to take matters into her own hands.

The door to the Umbilicus clicked, and then slowly but surely they creaked open with a wave of the tower keeper’s magic; another, smaller tax on his aether, but  _ still a tax, _ nonetheless. And what Lily found on the other side was none other than a visibly exhausted man standing behind the work table, alone and regarding her with droopy ears and even droopier eyes.  _ Twelve,  _ the dark circles underneath… Nevermind he looked as guilty as an unbroken house pet. G’raha recognized well the look of scorn upon her face, and he sighed toward the floor, rubbing his arm with shame.

“You’ve caught me.”

“I have.”

Lily crossed her arms again and he didn’t dare to meet her burning gaze. For a long moment nothing was said, and yet, the silence told the Exarch everything. 

“I know I didn’t heed your words. I apologize… We are just so near to—“

She took him by his left hand and tugged, earning herself a surprised look.

“Save it. We’re going to bed.”

G’raha nodded slowly, acknowledging defeat. He knew there was no longer room for protest. 

“... Yes.” His ears perked up then, as she was leading him out of the room. “Wait,  _ ‘we?’” _

Lily looked back over her shoulder at him and cocked an eyebrow, a half-smile in the making. He was no good at hiding his excitement, as misplaced as it was.

“Yes,  _ we.  _ Since you  _ clearly _ can’t be trusted to do this on your own.” They reached out to the shining teleporter outside before the Auri lead him along with quick steps, keeping a tight grip on his spoken hand as they neared the exiting door. She chuckled as she teased, “Ironic, isn’t it? Since I heard you recently made time to read ‘Goodnight, Sun’ to the children in the Cabinet of Curiosity!”

“Well, that’s—!”

Lily only caught a glimpse of the look she knew was the beginning of a pout before she rushed the door with the Exarch, making him wave his hand in a hurry to open it, lest they charge right into it. It was for the second time that night that she gave the guard at the gate a scare, and the man jumped in his armor as she ran hand-in-hand with her captive. 

“K-keep up the excellent work, my good man!” G’raha called back to him, having to dig his heel into the pavement to even halt her for a moment. She kept him in a headlong dash for the plaza aetheryte, and even giving a mild scolding of her name, he was  _ laughing  _ as they ran.

Once they reached the room, Lily only paused to open the door, not hesitating to lead G’raha to her bed and only finally letting go of his hand once she could usher him to sit on the edge.

“No tea first?” He grinned wide at her and pulled her onto his lap and into his arms, with her knees on either side of him. “If you wanted me to wind down, is there any particular reason you had me  _ sprinting? _ I’m sure that was quite a sight to my retainers.”

Lily hooked an arm over his shoulder and caressed his cheek as he leaned into her touch.

“Your retainers are  _ happy _ when you’re happy. And so am I.”

“That makes the two of us, then.”

Affectionate looks were exchanged, and then a kiss. G’raha kissed her long and lovingly, arms wrapped around one another in an embrace. Even with his playful words, by the way he kissed and his fingers worked lethargically over her hair,  _ he was tired. Dreadfully.  _

Lily reluctantly gave into the slip of his tongue for but a moment before setting her hand at his chest and easing back, meeting a pair of eyes that practically stared through her, crescents underneath so dark she would think the man benefitted nothing from his connection to the Crystal Tower. It didn’t matter how many tonics Lyna foisted him with, healthy or otherwise, nothing else would make up for a lack of sleep but sleep itself. That was a fact Lily was familiar enough with.

“Bedtime,” she said, letting G’raha’s hands slip from her waist as she moved to turn out the lights and climb back into bed. While G’raha took the time to remove his sandals, fumbling and slow, Lily propped up her pillow; the one shaped in a curve that allowed her to lay back comfortably with her horns. When he finally was rid of his sandals and the outer layers of his cowl, she reached for him and waited for him to climb into her arms. G’raha practically  _ melted _ into her, relaxing with his head in the crook of her shoulder and nuzzling there with a deep sigh of content. She smoothed over his hair, then his ears, softly taking the one on the outside between her fingers and rubbing from the base of it to the point. His chest began to rumble.

_ “Hmm…”  _

She looked at him curiously when he hummed, freezing with her fingertips holding the end of his ear before making tiny circles there. She could feel him smiling through her nightgown.

“As much as I like that, you know I won’t be docile for long if you continue~” Lily chuckled, replacing her hand on the top of her lover’s head, instead stroking his scalp from the base of his ears where tufts of fur poked out from, to his braid where his hair was at its whitest. She only just refrained from reaching for his hairtie and pulling it out as she had grown used to doing, though she didn’t want to lose it in the dark and give him something to be pouty about in the morning. Lily couldn’t resist, however, craning forward and pressing a kiss against G’raha’s ear.

“You know…” He eventually said, sounding far off. She was surprised he could even remain awake and was half-convinced the next words would either be lost or complete nonsense. 

“The tower  _ does _ assist me with fatigue. I only need… a nap.”

“You had trouble finishing that sentence… Do you even hear yourself? How raspy your voice is?”

Hot breath huffed against the scales trailing down toward Lily’s collar. He couldn’t even formulate a proper response for several seconds, the vibration of his chest now almost completely absent.

“Wake me… in a few bells… my dear.” There was a long pause wherein she was almost entirely sure G’raha was asleep, that her hand delivering the petting floated over the back of his neck. It was then that he must’ve felt it, raising his chin suddenly in surprise.

“Lily?”

Grinning sheepishly, she caught the moment he fully understood what she was doing, his scarlet eyes widening in the dark before becoming unfathomably heavy— _ too heavy to resist _ under the influence of the tingling magic she issued directly to his nape.

_ “Goodnight~” _ She whispered.

“That’s… not… fair…  _ hmnnn…” _

The room fell silent of any purring, soon replaced by the deep, full breaths of the Crystal Exarch sleeping soundly on her breast.

**Author's Note:**

> .....I have to let myself do little things like this every now and then while my slow burn burns. ;v;
> 
> (Sorry if anything’s weird, I wrote & posted this entirely on my phone which I would not recommend dhshshg)
> 
> If you would like, you can follow me on Twitter @cactwerk where I am positively Cuckoo For Crystal Exarch 24/7! And do drawings and stuff, etc!!


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